Waukon, Iowa, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Waukon, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Waukon lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Waukon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Waukon — the short answer
Waukon, Iowa: USDA zone 5a, about 183 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~183
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 2K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 5a is Waukon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Waukon's 183-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Waukon
Each reading below is measured for Waukon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWaukon runs about 183 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredWaukon sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Waukon is in
Waukon sits in the Driftless Area — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Waukon's own centroid rather than borrowed from Allamakee County.
What Grows in Waukon
Every plant below cleared Waukon's own zone 5a and its 183-day season. Each card opens that plant's Iowa profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Waukon?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 19 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Waukon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Waukon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WALKERS 1 STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- MCMILLAN 66 SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- HUFFMANS SHELL SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- ALLAMAKEE COUNTY COURTHOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- ALLAMAKEE VETERINARY CLINIC PCUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- ALLAMAKEE COUNTY SHEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- ALAMAKEE FLYERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- FAUSER OIL CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- FAA VORTACUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- WAUKON KWIK TRIPUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- KWIK STAR #823Underground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- JIM''S FULL SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Waukon's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Waukon.
Total Sites
72
within ~10 miles of Waukon
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Waukon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Waukon
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Waukon
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Waukon average
Your land is one point inside Waukon
Everything above resolves to Waukon as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K acres. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at city scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Waukon Average
Waukon Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Waukon
- ●One soil character for all of Waukon
- ●Frost dates read at Waukon's scale: Apr 19 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Waukon's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Waukon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Waukon, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Waukon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Waukon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Waukon average
How we know this about Waukon
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Waukon’s own record; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Waukon
When does frost risk typically end in Waukon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Waukon typically lands around Apr 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about May 10.
When is the first frost in Waukon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Waukon typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 183 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Waukon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Waukon sees about 183 frost-free days — roughly Apr 19 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 10 to Oct 5, about 148 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Waukon?
The federal record around Waukon shows 72 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (42), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Waukon?
From about Sep 19 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Oct 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Oct 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Waukon's scale — its 5a band and its 183-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Waukon's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Waukon’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Waukon's own scale — its own ~183-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,818 acres it covers and 72 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Waukon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Waukon's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 19 and Oct 19 and the ~183-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 72 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Waukon, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Waukon's boundary and the 1,818 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~183-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Waukon's own centroid, the Driftless AreaUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Waukon's 1,818 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Allamakee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Allamakee County
- The growing challenges every Iowa grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Iowa
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Allamakee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Waukon's 1,818 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Waukon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,818 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Waukon-wide figureread your own land →
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